I personally prefer to use yellow passionfruits (Passiflora edulis flavicarpa) for making juice or concentrate. It produces more juice than the purple passionfruit (Passiflora edulis), the pulp seperates more easily from the skin and it is more more acidic, producing a stronger juice, while still very aromatic.

How to get started

To start with you need a good amount of passionfruits. We have done everything, from 200kg to 2kg. These days I usually simply collect what ripens on our vines in a week and make concentrate out of it during the weekend. Use only ripe fruits. Wash them to remove any dirt that might contaminate your pulp.

Cut all the fruits into halves, using a sharp, best a serrated knife.

Scoop out the pulp, using a teaspoon, and collect the pulp in a bowl.

You'll end up with a pile of empty skins. They should go onto the compost heap! In your bowl you will have all the fruit pulp that will be used to make the juice or concentrate.

How to seperate the seeds from the pulp

There are generally two ways to seperate the seeds from the pulp - you can use a machine or do it by hand using a sieve. I'll show you pictures for both.

I am using a standard multipurpose juicer. It can be used for making all kinds of juices. These juicers are available in different qualities and sizes. For durability you should choose one that comes from a reputable company. The parts should be easy to clean and the motor part needs to be protected from liquid spills, which are inevitable when making juices.

Using a Cone Strainer

An alternative machine that is excellent to seperate seeds from pulp is a meat mincer with a cone strainer attachment as shown in the picture. It squeezes the juice through the strainer and the seeds come out at the tip. The advantage of this machine is that i doesn't break the seeds, which have a bitter taste. It also seperates the seeds from the pulp completely in just one go, while with a normal juicer the pulp has to be processed several times before seeds and pulp are seperated satisfactorily.

This picture shows how the strainer is attached to the device. In this case it is a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, but it is also available for manual meat mincers. It can also be used to make tomatoe paste as seen in the picture.

Seperating seeds and pulp by hand

To be able to seperate the seeds from the pulp by hand it is necessary to boil the pulp first.

When the pulp boils the skins that hold the juice around the seed will split and release the juice. The seeds can then be easily seperated using a strainer or sieve and a whisk (see picture below).

Pour the pulp through the sieve and stir it with the whisk until only seeds remain in the sieve and the juice is caught in the bowl below.

In the right measuring jug the juice that was seperated by hand. In the left jug is the juice seperated by the juicer. Both methods produced the same amount of juice.

Using a juicer

The juicer has a round blade with small slits in it. The pulp is smashed against the blade to break the skins that surround the seeds. The force produced by the rotating blade strains the juice through the holes on the sides and throws the seeds out into a container that collects the waste.

The juice collects in a seperate jug on the side of the juicer.

This process has to be repeated about three times until the seeds are seperated from the pulp to a satisfactory degree. For this return the seeds and pulp from the waste collecting container to the jug and run them through the juicer again.

Stop repeating once the seeds start to break. Broken seed particles in the juice will make it bitter.

How to concentrate the juice

The product after seperating the seeds from the pulp is the pure passionfruit juice. It is too sour to drink as it is. For fresh juice it is usually diluted and mixed with some sugar. Fresh juice needs to be stored in a refrigerater and consumed within 3 days as it spoils easily. I prefer making a concentrate, which will keep without refrigeration for about 1 year. It can be diluted 1:10, which means 1 liter of concenrate will provide me with 10 liters of juice. For a fresher taste a little pure juice can be added after dilution.

To make a concentrate you need to measure the total volume of juice and add the same volume amount of white sugar to it.

If you use brown sugar instead of white sugar the colour of the concentrate will turn brownish. That is no problem for home consumption but for use in restaurants the colour will be too unappealing. Don't measure the amount of juice and sugar by weight, but always by volume. In the picture i used 1 liter of juice and 1 litre of white sugar. Mixed both together in a pot.

Stir the sugar into the juice until it is well mixed and bring the mix to a boil again. Boil for 30 seconds while stirring with a whisk.

The finished product

This is all that is needed to make a passionfruit juice concentrate. The finished product has a dark orange colour and can be filled into airtight containers like bottles and jars for storage. If filled in hot, straight from the pot, ensure the material of the containers can withstand heat. The usual plastic water bottles will melt! If filled into airtight containers hot it will be pasteurized though, and can be stored without refrigeration for a long time.

The finished product!

Dilute 1:10 or to taste before consumption. It can be used as a syrup over icecream or in cocktails.

A blender might be a handheld instrument known as an eggbeater, a handheld mechanized blender, or a stand blender. Stand blenders differ in size from little ledge models for home use to extensive limit business machines.

Reply

musliha binti md yunos

6/30/2017 01:33:59 am

How to consume passion fruit concentrate?
Need to mix with water?
Tqvm

yes you dilute the concentrate with water at a ratio of 1:10. 100ml concentrate on a later of water. So from 1 later of concentrate you can make 10 litres of ready to drink juice.

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Author

Anja Weber is the chairperson of Mama Chakula Foundation, a members' organisation dedicated to rural transformation through education & exchange; honouring old principals while embracing new technologies. She came to East Africa in 1997, when she set up the food processing units at Irente Farm. She has since worked as manager for different companies in East Africa.